Go behind the scenes at one of the most important - and intense - piano competitions in the music world.

Watch The Cliburn: 50 Years of Gold, Friday, Sept. 28, at 9pm on WGBH 2

Every four years, a group of the finest young pianists takes the stage at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. In the midst of the drama, the beauty, the nerves and the excitement, they know one thing is true — what happens there can change their lives. They strive to feel the joy of victory and achieve their utmost goal: to become a performer on the world stage.

A young Van Cliburn performing

Seen through the eyes and memories of 15 gold medalists, The Cliburn: 50 Years of Gold follows the half-century-long history of one of the world's most prestigious music competitions, set against the backdrop of beautiful music. Walking onto the stage at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is a critical moment in the life of a young pianist. Gut-wrenching drama, strung-out nerves and the joy of victory are elements that make up this extraordinary film retrospective.

Producer and Director Peter Rosen tracked down the Cliburn Gold Medalists wherever they were performing around the world to weave their stories into the legend of Van Cliburn, the competition's namesake, who recalls his victory in 1958 in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Competition at the height of the Cold War: “I had only a few months to prepare for the Tchaikovsky competition. But, in a way, my whole life had been leading up to it.”

Saturday at 8pm on Classical New England
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The French pianist is the soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Bernard Haitink conducts Ravel's Mother Goose and music by Mozart and Thomas Adès.

The challenge of Mozart's music involves the same qualities that make it such a joy to hear. It lies in the clarity, simplicity, and proportion Mozart envisioned and wrote into the music. There is an undeniable virtuosity, to be sure, but rather than being an end unto itself, that virtuosity is at the service of the overall picture of grace and beauty.

Fortepiano made by Paul McNulty, following an 1804 original by the Viennese maker Anton Walter(by Opus33 [CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons)

The challenges - and rewards - are exponentially heightened when Mozart's musical thoughts are channelled through a keyboard instrument of his time. Today's grand pianos, built for projecting massive Romantic creations into large concert halls, constitute a wonder of human invention.

But, as you can see in the videos with Robert Levin below, they are something of a leap away from the sound world of Mozart. On a fortepiano of Mozart's time, that control and virtuosity must be delivered with an even finer sense of gradation, subtlety, and color. Likewise, the listening experience brings a new sense of discovery to Mozart's creation.

For this performance of Mozart's Concerto in for Two Pianos, Boston Baroque, now in its 39th year, invited two performers known around the world, but based here in Boston. Robert Levin is one of the world's foremost authorities on Mozart through his musicological work at Harvard University, and his wife, Ya-fei Chuang, travels the world as a soloist in both recitals and orchestral collaborations.

On the program:

Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201

Concerto in E-flat for Two Pianos, K. 365
Robert Levin and Ya-fei Chuang, fortepianos

On-demand at Classical New England
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Russian-born Kirill Gerstein has drawn on childhood roots in Boston to build an already dazzling career highlighted by major awards and an omnivorous approach to music.

To hear the program, click on "Listen" above.

Gerstein's masterful technique, musical curiosity and probing interpretations have led to explorations of classical music and jazz, advanced degrees by the age of 20, a professorship in piano by the age of 27, and a full performance schedule at the world’s major music centers and festivals.

In January 2010 he was named the recipient of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award. Only the sixth pianist to have been so honored, the Gilmore Award is made to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses broad and profound musicianship and charisma and who desires and can sustain a career as a major international concert artist. He was also honored by being awarded a 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant in April 2010.

Gerstein visits Classical New England's Fraser Performance Studio and host Cathy Fuller. On the program are songs by George Gershwin as transcribed by Earl Wild and music by Gyorgy Ligeti, all in a preview of a concert he gave on at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.

Here is video of a concert performance by Gerstein, in which he joins the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and conductor Gustavo Dudamel for part four of Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, "The Age of Anxiety:"